Jedi Crossing 3
by Quick Zero
Summary: After serving his sentence until Trance Pierson can clear his name, Deshawn and his brother, Shomari, begin to refocus their search for their mother's killer. However, an assignment on Yavin IV bring some interesting new twists to the mystery, as well.
1. My Release!

Disclaimer: This story is based on George Lucas's series of movies Star Wars…I claim most of the characters, I just base the ideas on the movie…so don't sue me…I don't plan on owning Star Wars by the end of this story, so this applies to all the chapters.

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I was sweating furiously. It poured down my bare chest, between my shoulder blades, and completely drenched my face. I was on a harsh planet, the name of which I either didn't know or had forgotten, part of the prisoner work force. We were mining for some kind of odd material I'd never seen before, but it was extremely valuable. Many of the prisoners had tried to hoard some for personal use, and later barter amongst themselves. However, most of the guards caught them and offenders were executed. I soon came to learn that the entire planet was one giant prison, but it was just separated into different sectors where the prisoners were sorted based on the degree of their crime. Because I'd killed a highly ranked official I was put into the maximum security on the planet. I felt almost grateful that I hadn't let Raena get arrested with me, as I wouldn't have wanted her to live through what I'd been going through for the past 6 months. Every morning, we were woken up from whatever creatively sadistic means the guards could think of then. A favorite to wake me up was to hit me with their electro whips. Because of this tactic, my chest and back had become thoroughly scarred depending how I was sleeping when they came to wake me up. I had long discarded my shirt, as the environment was hot. It was almost like the planet Mustafar, but it was mostly rock with only a few cracks or pits filled with lava. Another hardship I dealt with was the constant harassment from the other prisoners. I knew this would be a problem as I was in the maximum security; so many of the convicts there were more sadistic than the evil-minded security officers there. I also noticed that I was the only human in my sector so I was mostly isolated as none of them took a liking to human's period. It was because of this hostility that I was grateful I'd learned Raena's ability to conceal other people. However, I'd used it to conceal something much smaller: my light saber. It took news of my first conflict to end the physical hostilities altogether. They decided to take a new tactic and simply isolate me as much as possible, which I preferred in the first place. It was at this thought that I heard the familiar sounds of the wake up call, roars of pain, anger, guards laughing and poking fun at the prisoners. As soon as the shadow of a familiar security officer was cast over my cell I moved my arm from over my eyes and looked boredly at the grinning guard.

"I'm already up," I mumbled tiredly as he raised his electro whip. "No need to use that."

He growled, and stopped raising the whip. Then his seemingly endless grin redressed his features. "Well, I hadn't planned on it. But since you want to give me lip."

With a quick snap of his wrist, the whip cracked across my uncovered chest causing my body to jerk violently for a second. The burning reminded me of my battle with Darth Brogan every time I was whipped. It was like a split second of the torture he put me through during our fight. Ironically, it was this previous experience that allowed me to endure their whips. Knowing that I'd endured much worse made it seem all the less painful. I calmed my mind quickly holding back the urge to grab my light saber and leave the planet. An escape on my part would undoubtedly shed more negative light on Trance's efforts to get Raena and I cleared of the charges. I felt that I could live through a few months, maybe even a year, of prison to have a lifetime of no longer running. I'd done my running already, and I hated it. I rather face my consequences. _Which is exactly what I am doing_. I got up off of the rusty metal bed and stood in front of the bars as they slid open releasing the prisoners to their work. The same guard from before came back slamming pickaxes and shovels into the prisoners' chests while telling them where they would be looking for the precious mineral the whole day.

"Bottom floor," he growled at me as he shoved a pickaxe into my stomach.

I caught my breath before it was forced out of my lungs and snatched the pickaxe from him with a fire of vengeance in my eyes.

"Mind who you're speaking to," I threatened him for what seemed like the 5000th time.

"You threaten me again," he leaned in towards me, speaking in a low voice. "And I'll whip you until your skin slides off."

I'd gotten into a habit of threatening the guards every time I felt an opportune moment. This is probably what had earned me most of the scars that marred my back and chest. I smirked as he cracked his whip menacingly at my feet and continued down the hall with his heavy bag.

"How'd you get sent down here?" a gruff voice inquired as I descended the steps to the bottom floor.

The bottom floor seemed to be the worst place on the entire planet to be sent to work. Not only was it at least 100 degrees hotter than the rest of the planet, on average, but also it was made of more lava than rock as it was nearer to the planets core. So the sweltering heat seemed to be multiplied. In fact, most of the bottom level's mining set up contained more steel platforms built specially for standing on to work as there was more lava than rock.

"You," another guard called to me. "Over there."

He pointed me to a small outcropping of rock on top of the lava. I was sure they'd chosen this particular spot because it was the most dangerous, and most uncomfortable spot to mine. I nodded and walked over to it with a smirk, all I had to do was find a good amount of the mineral and I would be allowed to rest for the rest of the day. My hand rested on a light saber concealed within the folds of my pockets as I went into the isolated mining spot. Closing my eyes I created a shield of Force to conceal my presence as I inconspicuously drew my light saber out. I put it to the rock face and ignited the blade, using the rocks to muffle the hum. I cut out several big pieces of the mining surface, and quickly put my light saber back. I pulled them out with a blanket of Force and laid them at my feet. I brought my axe down on each piece several times in quick succession, splitting them open revealing a white material in each of the stones. I closed my eyes with a satisfied smile, taking a hold of them with a ringlet of Force. I extracted them easily and kicked the, now, useless rocks into the pool of lava that surrounded me. I was sure I'd gotten a few kilograms so I gathered it all into my pack and waved a guard over.

"That enough for you?" I smirked at his face.

"We'll see," he said with a frustrated tone. "They have this thing standardized you know."

"Of course," I nodded in compliance.

Closing my eyes I entered the guards mind and mentally watched as he weighed my collection up in their post. _How could he have gotten three times the minimum requirement so soon? Fine, since he's so good at his job I'll just let him continue to do it._ I re-centered my thoughts back into my mind and as he came towards me with a sly, satisfied, and concealing smirk.

"Ah, you seem to have come up a little short," he said in a voice that feigned sympathy.

"Are you sure? Cause that load felt at least three times the minimum requirement to be done for the day," I responded.

He breathed out heavily, "it was only twice. Come with me."

I was back in my cell, lying on my uncomfortable bed with an arm over my eyes blocking out the light of the lava and various lamps hanging around. However, I couldn't seem to relax. There was some kind of unrest nearing the planet. I sat straight up and began to sense the area with the Force. I found nothing so I extended the range I was scanning to just beyond the planet's thin atmosphere and found five beings. The most prominent one emanated a self-proud state of mind but in the background was a humorous side. The next one I noticed gave off waves of power, but it made me feel at home, as if the enormous power was there to protect me. The third presence was soft, I barely noticed it, and it sort of blended in with the other two Force sensitive beings near her. After identifying Trance, Shomari, and Raena, I began to reach out towards the other two people with them. After simple minds scan I came to recognize them as the officials that had the papers authorizing my release. A smile stretched across my features. _My release!_


	2. The Plan, and The Distraction

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After identifying Trance, Shomari, and Raena, I began to reach out towards the other two people with them. After simple minds scan I came to recognize them as the officials that had the papers authorizing my release. A smile stretched across my features. _My release!_ It took about 10 minutes for them to all be escorted down to my cell. Shomari wore a smug smirk on his face; Trance had a similar grin, except more of his goofiness showed on it. But Raena wore the look of a person who's lifetime longing had just been fulfilled. She had her hand on her chest as she was breathing heavily, her eyes seemed on the edge of tears of happiness, and she seemed to tremble in excitement. I never thought I could have missed anyone as much as I had missed Raena, Shomari, and Trance. My mind was filled with a warm flow of Force as it reacted to the exhilaration from me not only being released, but the group that was getting me out.

"Open it up," the guard reluctantly ordered.

The cell doors slid to the side and I burst out running straight towards Raena who leaped into my arms. We kissed deeply for a few moments before I pulled back, setting her on her feet, and looked over her beautiful face to remember what I had been missing in jail. Her hazel eyes shimmered from the liquids that sat complacently on her pupils. She was slightly biting her lower lip, and her milk chocolate complexion seemed to shine from the slight sweat on her face, from the high temperatures of the planet.

"I missed you so much," I told her hugging her body. Then I noticed she had changed her hair back to its normal black. Joking I said, "I think I might miss your old hair color."

"You want me to change it back?" she asked pulling her hair in front of her face to see.

"No, its perfect," I kissed her again before turning to Trance.

"How'd they treat you in here?" Trance was leaning against the wall with his goofy smile plastered all over his face.

"About the same as you treated me the first hour or so I knew you," I joked.

"I can remember the bonding times," he put on a mock reminiscing voice. "You know, we learned the most about each other while we were fighting."

"I still think it was a good choice that we cut down on the bonding time though," I smirked.

"As much as I hide it," Trance stood up squaring his shoulders off with mine. "I did miss you."

"I missed you too," I pulled my best friend into a hug. "You're like a brother to me."

After we broke our embrace, I turned finally to Shomari whose smug grin turned into more of a searching stare.

"_How have you been Déshawn?" _Shomari thought to me.

"_Its been hell,"_ I admitted. _"I missed Raena's companionship and your support. I even wished Trance could say something stupid at the wrong time."_

"_I could feet your pain at some times,"_ Shomari let me know.

"_I'll be fine," _I tried to lessen his qualms.

"_I know you will," _Shomari nodded as we stood about a foot from each other.

"_Any news on mom?"_ I let him know what my focus was now that I was free.

"_We'll talk about that later." _Shomari said. _"It's been hard without you."_

"_It shouldn't have been,"_ I cocked my head to the side.

"_You know it was," _Shomari thought back. _"You're my only support in this world. I felt like I was falling for the six months you were gone."_

"_Sounds a lot like my end,"_ I informed him; Shomari turned his eyes to the ground.

I grabbed Shomari by his shoulders and gave him a hug also, "I love you, brother."

Shomari nodded his silent concurrence and I thought I saw, when we finally stood apart, a single tear slide down his cheek.

"We must go," one of the official looking men, told us, interrupting our reunion.

"You're right," I agreed. "We need to get back to the Jedi Temple."

Shomari, Raena, Trance, and I were all sitting in my room, having arrived uneventfully at the Jedi Temple. It was a surprisingly quiet ride, as I'd expected us to be joking, and laughing all the way back. But our previous experiences, as well as the circumstances of my arrest, seemed to have taken our mood for that sort of pastime. Raena and I had sat in the back holding each other, while Trance meditated and Shomari sort of gazed in our direction interestedly. Now we chose my room to relax as Shomari and I discussed how best to investigate our mother's death. I sat on my bed next to Raena, while Trance stretched out behind us sleepily. He hadn't gotten much sleep during the, almost, year he had tried to get Raena and I off. Shomari told me that when he wasn't arguing our case, he was conducting some kind of researching on it. Shomari stood in front of Raena and I pacing furiously.

"We need to compile a list of," Shomari started off. "Anybody who's had the Serum 10 to 12 years ago."

"It can't be that many, it's only a 2 year stretch," I reasoned. "I doubt anyone that had the Serum would want to give it up once they knew its powers."

"Or, they might have feared its capabilities." Trance muttered from behind us. "I know I would."

"Plus," Raena piped up. "Looking at what it does to the operator, they probably died off pretty quickly."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Count Popsomuo didn't have it too long himself."

"Well I'll get started," Shomari took control. "I should have a list together in a few hours."

"I'll help," Trance yawned. "I've gotten this research thing down to an art over the last year."

"I'll be fine," Shomari waved off his offer. "You should rest."

"By the way," Trance pointed at me, yawning again widely. "You and Raena have to go see the Jedi Council."

"I wonder what distractions they have for us this time." I complained.

"You usually love getting missions," Raena looked at me wit an odd look.

"This is before I had a trail of clues to find my mothers killer." I explained.

Raena and I were standing in front of the Jedi Council and I had a comforted feeling that this mission wasn't likely to end up with me spending half a year in jail.

"Welcome back Déshawn," Master Windu greeted me. "We're glad to have you back in action."

"Thank you Master," I responded. "It's good to be back."

"Go to you Yavin IV you now must. Protection, Naboo's ambassador needs." Yoda told us.

"The planet Yavin IV is notorious for housing rebellions, up risers, traitors and others that have plans to try and overthrow government officials. Or any kind of leader they don't like for that matter." Mace Windu began to explain. "There is a group on Yavin IV that have been at a silent and private war with Naboo. They are the Kashill. The Kashill are very stealthy in their ways, they won't be easy to spot an attack from: you'll have to be on your toes."

"Dissention we still fear, from the Kashill. Attack ambassador Nora Tressle, we fear they might. Protect her until the end of negotiations you and Raena must." Yoda explained our assignment.

"You will only be there for a couple of days, but the ambassador refused to agree to the peace talks without some kind of protection." Master Windu told us. "You will leave in two days in order to synchronize your arrival with the Naboo ambassador."

"Yes master," Raena and I chorused as we bowed.

"This sounds fun," Raena prodded me as soon as we were outside the room. "You'll enjoy yourself once you're back in combat again."

"I'll enjoy myself when I'm in combat with my mother's killer," I corrected her as we headed back to my room.

I looked around the planet Yavin IV with mild interest as Raena and I walked off of the space ship.

"Where's the rendezvous point?" Raena asked the security personnel as we started to move through the lush forest.

"It's just up ahead," the chief officer answered her. "It's at one of the smaller temples."

We kept moving at a moderate pace, my mind in a semi-meditative state, until we reached a small clearing. Behind a group of about 9 people was a tall building that seemed to be slightly coated in moss and other natural growths. There was a moldy smell that seemed to radiate from within it. A prickling of the Force seemed to indicate something ominous inside of it.

"Ambassador Tressle," the commander of security introduced us. "Jedi Knights Déshawn Jackson and Raena Colonya."

"Ambassador," I inclined my head slightly as a feigned sign of respect.

"Ambassador," Raena bowed more deeply.

"Jedi Knights, I'm glad that you two could make such short notice, but I feel that the Kashill are to make their move soon." The ambassador greeted us gratefully.

"May we discuss this in your quarters?" Raena asked. "I'm not sure of the Kashill's methods but this seems an inappropriate place for anything beyond pleasantries."

I found myself slightly impressed with Raena's easy switch from her easygoing personality into a more formal and diplomatic persona; with the matching linguistic transformation.

"Of course," Nora Tressle smiled slightly. "Forgive my inadequate hospitality."

Once in the ambassador's room, I could see much better than in the dank forest. The ambassador didn't dress in anything overly flamboyant, which I noted was wise to avoid attracting attention. The company she kept was also as discreet as possible while remaining secure. She currently donned a simple light blue robe with gemstones I couldn't recognize hand-sewed into the collar tracing their way to her feet. The robe itself seemed to flow around her body like silk, but luckily for her is wasn't quite as translucent. The ambassador herself had tan skin, her dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and light blue eyes that matched her robe. She was sitting with a regal posture on her bed across from Raena who sat facing her on a chair, with me pacing in between the two.

"What do you need to know about the Kashill?" Nora initiated the conversation.

"Most importantly, appearances." I said turning on my first pass. "What are the most common, and obvious characteristics of their race."

"You must have been misinformed. You see, the Kashill aren't a race," Nora corrected me. "They are a group, made of many different creatures."

"That's going to complicate things," I thought aloud. "Keep going."

"Their emblem is a two headed creature of some kind, that is breathing out fire." She said.

"Describe it please," Raena prodded.

"It's reptilian, has a red tint on its scales, a long tail that has a sort of spade for the tip, and-" she started before I cut her off.

"4 limbs, two to stand on and two with claws that act as arms." I guess.

"Yes, how did you know?" Nora sounded impressed. "It's true that Jedi can read thoughts then?"

"Actually it's a mythical creature from my planet, Earth. Their emblem is a two headed dragon." I explained.

"Oh," she sounded slightly deflated.

"What do you know about them that may help us identify them on sight?" Raena continued.

"Nothing," Nora stood up exasperated. "The Kashill are known for their ability to NOT be recognized. It's how we keep losing security officers."

"The Kashill have killed some of your security already?" I asked shocked at their sloppiness and lack of job skill.

"More like most of them," she said. "I knew everyone of them personally. And losing them has been…hard."

"Most of them?" my suspicion grew.

"Yes, which is why I believe that they intend to make their move soon. They started from with the top ranks of my officers and worked their way down, all I have left to protect me are novices who are on their first assignment." Nora sat back down as if exhausted.

"Ambassador Tressle, I believe that we should meet with your remaining security force." I stopped my pacing and faced her.

"Of course," she said.

She then pulled out a small communications array from the folds of her robe and spoke quietly into it. Within a few moments her 8 rookie security officers filed into the room and quickly lined up across, each standing at a disciplined attention.

"Officers," I spoke in a commanding voice. "Who here can tell me why Ambassador Tressle's protection has dwindled to such meager numbers?"

"The Kashill," one of the officers spoke up, at the opposite end of the line from where I stood. "Move like shadows. They are like lightning, they move quickly, never repeat a target. And while they may not kill you, you definitely will be seriously injured."

"Thank you for your metaphor officer," I moved down the line slowly until I reached him, examining the look of grim resignation on each of their faces. "Your name?"

"Paris Kendal sir," he looked at me with a different look. His eyes seemed to know his death was certain, but he would not give in to it.

"Kendal…" I repeated quietly memorizing his name and face. "Thank you for volunteering information, but that is the wrong answer."

"Sir?" he looked confused.

"When I asked what went wrong, I did not wish to hear the Kashill's successes. But I wished to hear our failures." I corrected him.

"We underestimated our enemy." He amended. "We gravely underestimated our enemy."

"Correct," I moved back up the line. "But you see, as grim a situation this is, we now have the advantage. Who knows why?"

"They now underestimate us," a deep voice right next to me spoke up.

"Your name?" I questioned peering at him.

"Johan Bastille sir," his eyes showed his resignation to death, but I thought I could feel a stronger power in him than his despair.

"Thank you Bastille," I committed his name to my memory as well. "And quite correct you are. The Kashill smell a fear that is not there. They think we are resigned to our deaths, and that we will not fight hard."

"However," Raena was suddenly behind the group of officers, causing them to face her startled. Her soft voice emanating waves of power. "What they do not know, is they failed to assassinate the most dangerous section of Ambassador Tressle's task force."

"Ma'am, this is but our first assignment," a meek voice interjected. "This assignment is our first."

"Your name sir?" Raena moved swiftly in front of him.

"Evans. Roger Evans." He said in a quieter voice.

"Tell me, do you wish to die on your back? Or with your sword between you and the killing blow?" Raena questioned him.

"Either way I won't be alive," he muttered looking down.

"A coward dies on his back," she told him. She lifted his chin until he was forced to look her in the eyes. "You're death will be with you firmly holding your ground."

"Yes ma'am," he said in a stronger voice.

"From here until this mission is completed," Raena spoke in a tone that seemed intended for my vocal chords. "Every single officer here is relieved of personal guard duty."

"Ma'am are you sure that's wise?" Bastille spoke up. "Should we not have as many officers as we can spare guarding the Ambassador?"

"Officer Bastille, I'm not one to usually fight fire with fire," Raena stopped in front of him. "But being a mistress of avoiding detection, I have to appreciate the Kashill's methods, which seem to have proven successful."

"The Ambassador will be protected by myself and Raena," I announced causing the line to turn back to me. "Do not worry for her safety."

"Yes, sir." Bastille acknowledged.

"There is only one job all of you now have, until you complete it." I continued. "And that is reconnaissance. We need blueprints of the city, and where the negotiations will take place. We need blueprints of building where the negotiations will take place. We need as detailed a list of who will attend these negotiations as possible. We need anything else you might find relevant."

"And as for you my lady," Raena walked over to the Ambassador, her ever-present devilish grin spreading. "It's time for you to become a Jedi."


	3. The Kashill

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"There is only one job all of you now have, until you complete it." I continued. "And that is reconnaissance. We need blueprints of the city, and where the negotiations will take place. We need blueprints of the building where the negotiations will take place. We need as detailed a list of who will attend these negotiations as possible. And we need anything else you might find relevant."

"And as for you my lady," Raena walked over to the Ambassador, her ever-present devilish grin spreading. "It's time for you to become a Jedi."

"How do you feel?" Raena giggled at the playfully scandalized look on Ambassador Tressle's face.

We'd outfitted her with a brown customary Jedi robe, her hood usually up, and she had also received light brown synthetic hair to hide her own nearly black hair. Raena wanted to give her white hair like the way she'd worn her own while we'd been in hiding. But I felt it was too noticeable of a change. We had even gone so far as to let her have a shell of a light saber; that is to say, the handle of a light saber, but no crystal or power to ignite the blade. But I hadn't left her unarmed. Nora Tressle also carried 3 conveniently hidden blasters. I told her to draw two of them only when she was in trouble and neither one of us was anywhere to be found. And I made sure she had a spare but she refused the fourth blaster because she said the other three were already an uncomfortable burden.

"Like I can take on any Kashill." Nora smiled a friendly grin at Raena.

"Ah, do not be so quick to put us out of a job," I joked. "We need the pay."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Nora laughed back. "Where to?"

"We return to your quarters to await our required information," I explained.

"How long do you think it will take them?" Raena asked as we left the store.

"Well, most of them were combat trained," Nora began in a tone that indicated information recollection. "But I think one of them was specially trained in reconnaissance and information gathering."

"That would be…" I thought for a moment. "Paris, most likely."

"No," Raena corrected me. "Paris would be decent if he worked at it. But Rogers is most likely the one."

"You're right," Nora exclaimed in an impressed voice. "How did you figure it out?"  
"Ambassador," I began. "If anyone knows more about identifying another stealth op, he is short, and green."

"Short and green?" Nora sounded confused.

"You've lived a very sheltered life milady," Raena sounded mildly surprised. "Even non-Jedi's know of Master Yoda."

"Oh, is he a strong Jedi?" Nora sounded so innocently clueless I wanted to laugh.

"By all accounts, he is THE most powerful Jedi alive," Raena told her.

"Wow," Nora said.

We reached the Ambassador's quarters where Johan Bastille was standing guard outside of the door.

"Bastille," I said taking on my commanding voice again.

"Sir!" he snapped from his relaxed posture to a rigid attention.

"No need for that," I waved his formalities off. "I'm not your permanent commanding officer."

"True." Bastille resumed leaning against the doorway. "Thank you."

"Have the others reported back?" I pressed.

"No, they have checked in on time so far though." He assured me.

"Good," I said as we started to walk past them.

"Would you like to come inside and relax?" the ambassador offered.

"Yes ma'am I would." Bastille punched the access code in for us and led the way into her room.

"So," I laid down on the bed while Raena sat next to me in a more professional act. "What can you tell us about the negotiation chambers?"

"Well," Nora began to pace as I had earlier, while Johan took up Raena's previous seat. "They are sealed from both sides. It's like a large dome, 1 light hangs from the ceiling lighting up the table in the middle where the two parties that are to negotiate will sit. Their protégé are made to stand."

"That would be us," I thought out loud.

"Yes," she nodded confirmation. "There are no windows, and the entire building is made of steel."

"Where is it geographically?" Raena asked.

"Nobody knows," Nora shrugged.

"What?" I was shocked.

"Ceremonially, escorts are sent to take each party, blindfolded, gagged and ears plugged, to the negotiation point." Johan spoke up. "A mild sedative is also administered to dull the senses."

"That would explain it." I sat up. "Does anyone know who these escorts are?"

"Not that I know of." Nora sounded disappointed. "Sorry."

"You're not supposed to know," I waved her guilt off.

"It seems like something the Temple Masters would know," Johan chimed in again.

"Brilliant," Raena complimented him.

"Ambassador, come with us. I think you should know the location also." I said standing up and pulling my robe back on.

"No," she stayed defiantly seated. "I shall keep to the custom. If it is discovered that I learned, or tried to learn, the location of our meeting whatever we may negotiate will be called off and the war will continue with new ferocity."

"Of course," I realized the wisdom of her words. "Then I'll go alone."  
"Want some company?" Raena stood up also.

"Thank you, that's a great idea." I faced Raena and gave her a quick kiss. "Johan you're with me."

"Déshawn!" she laughed not realizing I was serious.

"I need you here to protect the Ambassador." I explained to her. "If the Kashill show up here now, they must have absolutely no entry, and only you can guarantee that. Be seen leaving, then slip back in and stay hidden."

"Okay," she agreed without argument. "Hurry back."

"I will," I assured her. With one last, more passionate, kiss I turned and left with Johan.

"You love her?" Johan questioned as soon as we'd left Nora's quarters.

"With all my heart," I assured him without hesitation. "You have a special someone?"

"Not anymore," his head bowed.

"What happened?" I said.

"Back on my home planet, Earth, there was a brutal attack about 10 to 12 years ago." He began. "The planet was slaughtered, to this day I have no idea what killed everyone. All I remember is some kind of light."

"It was purple." I informed him in a grave voice.

"Yes, how do you know?" he sounded astonished.

"I was two at the time." I explained. "My mother was a Jedi Knight. When the attack began she went out to protect everyone she could. She made us stay hidden, for she was secretly training us to become Jedi Knights, against the Council's orders. That's why my brother and I are so powerful and ahead of our age."

"Wait," he stopped and turned to face me. "I was about to say a beautiful Jedi died saving my life."

"What?" I couldn't believe my ears. "Tell me everything you saw."

"Well, when they arrived you already have some idea of what they did. Everything and everyone was brutally murdered. This weapon seemed to…" he struggled for the words.

"Steal their soul." I told him.

"Yes." He said. "Anyways, I told Sharon, my girlfriend at the time, to stay hidden. I went outside, with the same intentions as your mother. I killed several of the troopers that were rampaging on the surface, but their sweeps with the soul reaping weapon made it difficult."

"It's a Force Harvester," I told him. "But go on."

"Well, just as I was dispatching about 4 or 5 of the soldiers, I lost track of my timing and the weapon almost hit me. But suddenly the waves of power were stopped, right before they hit me. And I saw her, your mom. The power she gave off was…simply amazing. Anyways, she held it off until she could move me to safety. I thanked her with all my heart and ran back to my fiancée." He continued. "But she was, well…"

"I'm sorry to hear that." I put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "But are you sure you didn't see my mother killed by the Harvester?"  
"Yes," he said.

"Well, that was definitely what killed her," I muttered to myself. "There's something that happened after you left her and she died. What is it?"

"We should continue on, we can investigate later." He urged me.

"Yes," I followed him quickly.

After weaving through the thick-forested areas we finally reached the temple where we had met the Ambassador after we'd landed. I suddenly got the same chilling feeling I'd felt earlier when we were next to it. I calmed my mind and pushed the dread out of my thoughts, and let the Force sensitize me to any impending danger. I felt my body grow slightly warm and a nearly involuntary vibration began to run through my muscles.

"What's wrong?" Johan looked at my muscle twitches.

"Everything," I told him. "Some great evil is at rest here, and I think the Kashill intend to utilize it."


	4. Dog Demons, A Trail of Clues

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I calmed my mind and pushed the dread out of my thoughts, and let the Force sensitize me to any impending danger. I felt my body grow slightly warm and a nearly involuntary vibration began to run through my muscles.

"What's wrong?" Johan looked at my muscle twitches.

"Everything," I told him. "Some great evil is at rest here, and I think the Kashill intend to utilize it."

"Should we check it out?" he asked me.

"Yes, if the Kashill release this...power, I fear I may not be able to stop it." I nodded to Johan.

"That would indeed prove disastrous." he said stepping into the Temple first.

The inside walls of the temple seemed to be covered with moss also, they had slight a slight green tint to them, as well as random splotches of blood. As we descended a spiral staircase that reminded me of the one at Popsomuo's old hideout, the warm sensation that was warning me of danger continued to grow. After a while, it got to the point where I gripped the handle of my light saber without drawing it, just as a precaution. We reached a landing and Johan began to open the wooden door, but I stopped him.

"Wait, let me go first. I think there's something waiting for us through there," I said stepping in front of him. "Ready your weapon."

He pulled out a large blaster that held a scope on the top of it for increased accuracy. I opened the door and stepped through, taking out my light saber without igniting it. My body was now extremely hot, screaming all kinds of warning dangers at me, but I couldn't see the danger physically. I scanned the room quickly taking in my surroundings. The room seemed to be a greenhouse of some kind, except it was taken to another level. There was a ominous silver mist that swirled around the floor heavily, hiding my feet from my view, and it rose thinly into the air making it hard to see. There were several trees scattered about the room, with dirt walls that rose about 50 or so feet into the air and curved slightly at the very top. The ceiling itself was open so that the night sky seemed to be the very roof of the artificial room.

"What kind of room is this?" Johan asked the very question that burned on my mind.

"I'm not sure, it's some kind of artificial forest. But there's a perfectly good forest outside, why make this twisted version of it?"  
"It's some kind of giant terrarium," Johan gasped gripping his blaster tighter. "They're keeping some kind of monster in here."

"That's not good," I said. "This is like some kind of practice hunting ground."

There was a quick rustling of leaves behind us, and Johan spun around whipping his blaster up itno the air, ready to fire in an instant.

"It's a stealth hunter too," I observed at the constant rustling of leaves, or cracking of twigs indicating it's now sloppy movements. "It was just watching before, now it's prepping to kill us."

"Prepping?" Johan grunted as he tried to track the monster's rapid movements.

"Checking all the angles, trying to confuse us, and circling us to try and find a weak point." I explained. "From the bare spots in the tree leaves I'm guessing its an omnivore."

"Knowing the Kashill, they probably turned a powerful herbivore into some kind of twisted predator." Johan growled bitterly.

"You might not be far off," I said as I felt the monster stop circling us and halt directly in front of me. "Ah..he's chosen me; I seem the weakest because I have no weapon drawn."

"Poor creature," Johan smirked.

As if on cue a hairy monster suddenly hurled from the darkness at my face with a high pitched roar. I quickly noticed that it had no obvious sensory organs; as in no eyes, ears, or nose. However, I identified it's deadly mouth easily, as it seemed to glow in the darkness from the bright green rows of teeth. It had about 3 rows of teeth, each row consisting of about 50 thin, sharp teeth. From the opening of it's jaw, its bottom jaw seemed to be double jointed, as it opened in a very snakelike fashion. Otherwise, its blank face was mostly featureless, just sporting a dark grey fur like the rest of its body. However, on it's back they seemed to spike up in a porcupine-like fashion, with paws that seemed to mirror a bears. I ducked under the monster easily and spun to face it quickly. I felt a flash of heat run through my spine and I leapt into the air backflipping over another monster of the same genre that attempted to tackle my back.

"God there's more than one?" I asked suddenly worried.

"Guess you were wrong about them circling us." Johan grunted firing his blaster in defense.

"Not too far off on the prepping though. Only difference is the pack was getting in place," I laughed dodging another monster easily, suddenly wishing I'd been more aggressive and broken up their pattern.

I noticed Johan's blaster fire seemed to gradually slow down their relentless, but it didn't seem to cause any kind of damage. I pulled out my light saber, igniting the blue side, and prepared myself to see if I could kill one of the monsters. I saw one of the seven monsters circle around to charge at me like a bull. I extended my arm with my light saber and lined the blade up with its mouth. As soon as it was about six feet away I flipped to the side, leaving my light saber floating in the air where I'd lined it up before. The monster ran through the blade and came to a complete stop, my light saber, still floating, was now behind it. The monster gave a high-pitched screech fell to the ground.

"Johan, aim for their mouth," I told him.

"I don't think I need to," he sounded a little unsure of what to do.

I couldn't blame him, it seemed the pack of monsters cared for each other, for as soon as I'd killed one, the group attack became exclusively focused on me. I suddenly felt guilty for killing what seemed to be a loved member of their group, but I knew I had to protect myself.

"Don't worry about me," I grunted spinning away from another rush.

I noticed that they moved much like a bull and I soon learned that avoiding them wasn't the hard part; the hardest part of fighting them was that the pack had flawless timing, and I barely had a chance to return the attack before I had to duck another one. They never came from the same direction, so I didn't learn any pattern, just that I shouldn't commit to my attacks to much or I'd pay dearly. I flipped to the side away from yet another attack and just barely leaned backwards enough to duck the monsters as two leaped from opposite sides of my body. They crashed in the air and I saw my opportunity. In one smooth, curving flash of blue light, I'd cut the monsters heads off. I decided that four of the monsters were a lot harder than the seven I had just dealt with. For the four remaining dog-like demons took it up a notch and began to move with incredible speed. It quickly escalated to a point where all I could use to dodge the attacks was the flashes of heat warning me of danger to my life.

"Johan," I hopped over a low paw attempting to sweep me. "Distract one of them."

"Got it," he immediately cut loose with a barrage of startling accurate fire.

Normally, if anyone had fired with such, seemingly rapant, blaster fire into a group of enemies at which I was leaping and flipping around in, I would have been very uncomfortable. But Johan had the steady, pinpoint accuracy, of a surgeon droid. He hit only the monsters, and I noticed the shots were as close to the mouth as his angle would allow. After a while, he'd killed another one of them and I had to deal with only two of the monsters as one of them broke off to attack Johan. He easily nailed it several times in the mouth quickly disposing of it as I'd severed the last head of the monsters. I put my light saber back on my hip hurriedly and jumped onto one of the trees.

"Where are you going?" Johan asked.

"This ceiling isn't at the top of this fake temple, so I think we should check it out," I explained.

I used the force to bounce from the top of the tree to the ceiling's edge, I easily pulled myself up and stood on the thin ledge.

"Well?" Johan shouted from the floor of the fake forest.

"Nothing up here, just some thin ledge to walk on," I said disappointed.

"Well the at least we got rid of the Kashill's little pet," Johan said trying to cheer up my, seemingly disappointed mood. "So you don't have to worry about the 'great evil' that was about to be unleashed."

"No, we got rid of their pets. But whatever it was that I sensed, is still there. I fear it may be the creator, or some how, in control of them," I admitted.

"Oh. The Kashill have never had these kind of resources or weapons. They used to be just well-trained spies or other skills of the like." Johan sounded baffled. "Where are they getting all these dark powers from?"

I reached out with my mind seeking the answer to Johans question. I turned to him and told him the answer I found, "I don't know."

We were heading back to the ambassadors quarters to report our small adventure, and failure to acquire our needed information. We reached the door, and Johan entered the access code. I felt a sudden flash of heat go across the front of my body.

"Watch out!" I yelled a warning to Johan.

He leaped away from the door and I jumped to the side as an explosion sent the door flying past where Johan and I had just been standing.

"No!" I ran into the room, covering my face as I charged through the fire.

I looked around the ravaged room and tried to search for any sign of Raena and the ambassador. _Raena is powerful, she wasn't killed, nor was the ambassador. I know that's for sure._ The room's emergency systems came online and began to douse the fire, drenching the room in water. _If the Kashill came here, they probably regret it_ I thought to myself. I saw the bed was collapsed so that the mattress now rested directly on the ground. The chair and table were knocked over, and two of the tables legs were broken off. One of the chair's leg seemed to have been taken out for what might have been an impromptu weapon. _So the Kashill are resourceful. But a chair leg to battle Raena's light saber?_ It didn't make sense. Well, maybe Raena picked up my reluctance to draw my light saber unless absolutely needed, and decided to use the chair leg. _No, it's too short to be as practical._ I look around the room and found the missing chair leg sticking out of the wall.

"Whoever attacked Raena and the ambassador must have been very good with projectiles," Johan examined it. He pulled it out, and examined the end that was in the wall. "This was the end that was in the chair. He must have been losing pretty badly to be this desperate. No matter how hard he threw this, even to be stuck that deep in a wall, it wouldn't have caused anything worse than internal bruising."

"Knowing Raena, he never saw her coming." I said looking at the slashing burn marks on the walls, which indicated her light saber swings. "She attacked him from this corner. His back was to her, and she quickly disarmed him," I spoke as I examined the few slash marks in the one corner; judging their depth and length, I guessed what kind of swing she was using. I was lucky that she had been in such close quarters so she left marks from her swings._ Or maybe she did it on purpose to let me know._ "He got some shots off," I looked over two short, symmetrical, slashes that indicated a defense circle with her blade. "She blocked them, he probably fell over the chair after he got hit."

"That's when he took it out," Johan agreed. "Look, smoke pellet remnants, he must have escaped."

"She probably let him go, so she could get the ambassador to safety." I said. "But where to?"  
"The back up headquarters, in case this very thing happened." Johan smiled knowingly.

"Lead the way." I held out my hand indicating his new role with a smirk.


	5. A Horrifying Development

--------------------

"That's when he took it out," Johan agreed. "Look, smoke pellet remnants, he must have escaped."

"She probably let him go, so she could get the ambassador to safety." I said. "But where to?"  
"The back up headquarters, in case this very thing happened." Johan smiled knowingly.

"Lead the way." I held out my hand indicating his new role with a smirk.

"So this is it?" I asked skeptically.

We were standing outside of another temple, but this one held no ominous beasts inside. I could sense Raena's constantly blended power inside of it. This temple had a gray color to it, indicating the stone that it had been built out of, but it was about the same size as the last one.

"Cozy huh?" He smirked at me walking in.

He led me inside and we made a right turn down a bare hallway until we reached a door at the very end of the tunnel-like passage.

"No time to decorate?" I jokingly asked.

"You don't like my homey touches?" he returned.

We walked down a stairwell for a little distance until we turned the corner and entered what seemed to be a military strategizing room. I saw Raena circling the ambassador protectively, her pink blade extended, with a look of focused determination on her face.

"Raena!" I called to her.

Her look of determination dissolved immediately and she retracted her light saber rushing over towards me. She leapt into my arms and I caught her easily kissing her deeply, indicating my longing for her during our time apart.

"What happened?" Raena asked.

"The temple we found was a decoy, some kind of weird beasts attacked us from the shadows. It was sort of like fighting you, if you'd been intoxicated, hairy and clumsy." I laughed.

"Nothing like anything I'll ever be." she smiled back. "The Kashill were raiding random homes, with the support of the people. They're like some kind of local heroes around here, the natives really take to these militia uprisings."

"You'd think they want the peace," Johan sounded confused.

"Anyways," Ambassador Tressle spoke up. "They got lucky and banged on the right building."

"Then what?" I asked.

"Well, you know me. I let them in." Raena started walking towards where we came from and peeking up the staircase. "They saw Nora in the middle of the room unprotected, and figured they'd picked off all of her guards, and they rushed in."

"Wait picked off all of her guards?" I interrupted.

"Yes..." Ambassador Tressle bowed her head, tears pouring from her eyes. "The rest of the guards were attacked while they were gathering your information, they were mostly annihilated."

"How do you know?" Johan sounded especially concerned. "How can you be sure."

"Because we saw it all," a quiet voice spoke up from my right.

Whipping my head around I saw the 2 remaining guards sitting on two of the stray couches in the shelter-like room. On the nearest couch a tanned light skinned male was holding a gauze to a heavily bleeding forehead. Sweat poured from his head, neck and arms, and his face was twisted in pain. I cringed as I saw the blood squeezing its way between his fingers. I remembered the words of this officer: "...while they may not kill you, you definitely will be seriously injured." Paris Kendal was looking at his fellow surviving officer, Roger Evans, who was the one who had spoken. Roger was pale, had a look to him that sort of indicated a wiley rodent that was quick on its feet. His eyes, which had glimmered with hope at Raena's words earlier, now seemed to be crazed with horror at what he saw.

"The Kashill have grown more ruthless, they didn't spare anyone in the library, they don't even allow the innocent to live now," his voice shook violently. "It was by pure luck that we found a weapon to kill them with."

"What weapon?" I asked suddenly wondering what could have defeated the Kashill so decisively by simply harnessing it.

"This," Paris held his hand out.

I grabbed the handle of a small light saber with a gasp of astonishment. This was a sign that a Jedi was in the library, or used to be in the light saber. From the up-to-date design I was sure the Jedi was alive and still as active as myself. I ignited it hoping to see what I could learn of this mystery Jedi Knight. The blade glowed orange as it snapped to life with an initially violent hum until it reached it's normal sound level.

"Oh my god," Raena gasped.

"Johan," I said suddenly trusting him immensely. "Use this only if you have no other means of defense."

"Yes sir," He caught the handle as I tossed it to him.

"And be careful with it to no end. I doubt you'll want the Jedi who this belongs to, to be angry with you." I warned.

"Yes sir," he hid it with a smile of admiration.

"Tell me what happened," I looked at Paris.

Paris grimaced as if he would rather not relive the details, I could sense his immense pain and fear at the Kashill's suddenly aggressive move. So rather than speak what had happened, he summarized the events in the library in a simple, gruesome move. He moved the inch thick gauze away from his forehead, and I suddenly felt my stomach turn. Paris Kendal had not suffered from a simple deep gash on the forehead; some powerful blow had very literally opened his head. The skin was nonexistant around his wound and you could see a bloody and cracked dome-shaped bone as the exponentially weakened defense around his brain. On closer expection, through the help of the force, I could see small holes around the cracks of Paris' skull. I dropped to my knees in horror as I suddenly felt the kind of pain Paris and Roger had gone through. It was as though seeing them had unlocked my mind to their true torture, and I wasn't ready for the waves of angst I was now receiving.

"Force help me," I shuddered. "What have I led you into?"  
"It's not your fault," Roger spoke up. "In actuality, we were very sloppy in watching our flanks."

"No!" I told Roger, standing up firmly. "This is my responsibility alone. I can not express how deeply I must apologize to you both. I knew there was danger, but this is far beyond anything I would have expected."

"Déshawn it's not-" Raena began until I interrupted her.

"It is," I corrected her through gritted teeth. "**I**, me, am their commanding officer. **I**, me, sent them on that assignment. **I**, me, didn't bother to monitor their safety, and make sure they were prepared. **I**, me, let this happen!"

"Look, really we don't blame you," Paris comforted me placing a new gauze on his gruesome injury.

"I would feel **a lot** better if 'we' was more people than I can count on half of a hand," I growled.

"We got the schematics you needed," Roger said holding out a datapad in a shaking hand.

I took it gently and deposited it in my robes, more concerned with their health than my pointless information. I'd originally intended it as a way to keep them away from the Ambassador so Raena and I could protect her better, and now...

"Let me heal you two," I said walking over to them as I gathered the Force within myself.

I walked over to Paris and let warm, rejuvenating energy flow over his head, sealing the cracks and holes in his head, and repairing the parts of his brain that had been bruised; which happened to be most of it. After I finished healing Paris as best I could, I walked over to Roger, who lay in a tenderized state. He leaked so much blood that his body seemed to be turned inside out from his neck to his knees. Most of it was caked on his chest, and I suddenly realized the reason for his pale face: he didn't have enough blood to hold his color. I began to mentally help his body to regenerate the unscrupulous amounts of blood cells lost. His color gradually returned to his face, and I thought I'd sealed many of his deep contusions, which had reached a point that they began to bleed profusely. He stopped shaking as if he were about to go into cardiac arrest, and I stepped back and observed my work, unsatisfied that this was all I'd been able to do for them. _Force! How I wish that this could all have been put onto me. _

"Thank you," Roger breathed.

"We appreciate this really," Paris said.

"It's...the least I could do," my breathing had grown heavy with suppressed vengeance.

"Now what?" Raena asked tentatively.

"Now I study this datapad, and the Ambassador readies for her negotiations." I told her in a resigned voice. "You just relax and get ready Raena. Johan, I want you to practice with your **temporary** weapon."

"Yes, sir," Johan nodded dutifully and left the room.

"What can we do to help?" Paris stood up shakily, grimacing as he clutched Roger's shoulder as a wave of dizziness threatened to sit him back down.

"What can you describe to me? Anything that may help them identify each other such as an emblem, any markings, even clothing style," I told him sitting down in a nearby couch.

"It was hard to really get a good look at them, because there was so much smoke around." Roger's voice shook in reminiscence. "Not to mention the innocent people were running around too much, it was chaos. When the smoke finally began to get a little clear, most of the bystanders were dead, and it was only me, Paris and the other guards left."

"When the smoke cleared, they cut the lights out." Paris took the story up in a more steady voice. I found that even in the grim situation I had to admire their tactics and brilliant attack strategy. "I'm not sure what happened from then on. I heard something whizzing, then a scream of pain, and then I got hit on the head and blacked out."

"Well," I mused thoughtfully. "This definitely won't be easy."

"What about the Jedi that was there?" Raena asked. "This light saber wasn't left by the Kashill."

"I don't know," Johan said. "Considering how much we know about them, I wouldn't rule it out."

"This isn't the work of a Jedi," Raena said. "But a Sith."  
"Sith usually only work in pairs though," I responded. "A master and apprentice."

"There is the one case where a Sith used then entire Senate for his purposes however," Raena pointed out.

"Because he needed them to support his empire," I waved her suggestion off. "The Kashill hardly have the pull or power to deserve a Sith's efforts."

"What kind of Sith carries an orange light saber anyways?" Raena waved a hand at Johan and pulled the stray light saber to her hand. She ignited it and waved it around to test it. "Red is usually their thing."

"This is true," I stood up and began to pace as I racked my brains.

"Well one thing we can bet on," Johan announced from the doorway, having heard the conversation. "The help from this Jedi, or Sith, is definitely recent."

"Maybe," I took his words into my thoughts with little consideration.

"No," Johan said grabbing my attention. "The Kashill definitely weren't this well organized, or skilled at planned attacks. Not to mention, they were more forgiving, as they had never killed any innocent witnesses."

"I wish you were wrong," Raena bowed her head.

"Why?" Johan said. "Other than the obvious reasons."

"Because, then we are dealing with another Sith." She sat down with an exhausted sigh.

"Well, I truly hope you're wrong," I told Raena. "Because that means I didn't kill the master, and I only took out two apprentices."


	6. The Negotiations

------------------------------

"I wish you were wrong," Raena bowed her head.

"Why?" Johan said. "Other than the obvious reasons."

"Because, then we are dealing with another Sith." She sat down with an exhausted sigh.

"Well, I truly hope you're wrong," I told Raena. "Because that means I didn't kill the master, and I only took out two apprentices."

"That doesn't make sense," Raena looked at me. "What kind of Sith keeps two apprentices?"

"I didn't take them out at the same time," I sat next to her. "But the second apprentice was as powerful as most Sith Lords. I shudder to think if I'm powerful enough to handle the Sith Lord."

"We are powerful enough," Raena walked up next to me and laid her head on my shoulder. I took the cue to wrap my arm around her, pulling her close to me as she sighed in worry. "What can we do?"

"I'm not sure, everything seems so unclear to me right now," I honestly told Raena.

"Do you think Shomari can help?" she asked me looking up hopefully.

"I don't want Shomari in this fight." I told her. "Sith Lords aren't known for the number of light saber battles they get in. Sith Lords are feared for their knowledge of the Dark side of the Force. I doubt Shomari's knowledge of the Force in general would save him."

"We'll get through this," Raena assured me again.

"She right, sir." Johan added the "sir" after he realized he sounded a little disrespectful interrupting our conversation.

"Speaking of 'sir'," I said standing up. "I feel the need to renounce my position as your commander. Raena is in charge now."

"What?" Ambassador Tressle rushed up to me. "You can't leave, not in these circumstances."

"Relax Ambassador," I started.

"Nora." She corrected me.

"I don't plan on going anywhere Nora. I just don't feel the I deserve these responsibilities," I told her solemnly.

"Same old Déshawn," I heard a disgusted voice behind me. "You slip up once, and all of a sudden your 'not responsible enough' or you 'don't deserve to be in charge'. You're just this big sacrificing hero."

"Shut it," I growled warningly, my back turned to my verbal assailant.

"The truth of the matter is," Shomari continued.

"Quiet," I spun around facing him, anger welling up, despite my training.

"You're afraid. You're scared you can't handle it, so you just honorably denounce your position like the corrupt officials in the Senate," Shomari walked up into my face without slowing down his relentless accusations.

I snapped, and swung a right fist across his face knocking him backwards into a wall. He smiled through the blood leaking down his mouth and came right back at me. I caught his fist, and bent it back towards him, the tension of his wrist turning a direction it wasn't made for caused him to drop to one knee in an attempt to relieve the pressure.

"I am not afraid." My voice had a tinge of self-conviction in it that seemed to prove Shomari's point.

"Prove it to me," he swept my feet out from under me, in a spin that seemed to put his arm in more pain, until I fell. He got up swiftly and stood over me in a more menacing fashion than the one I had just displayed. "Lead us to victory Blazin."

Nora Tressle's nervousness was well suppressed, in a way that impressed even me. She sat at the table with a calm demeanor as her known enemy stared at her with clear hatred. Her fingers were gently interlaced with each other, and resting on the table nonchalantly. Her only security detail was Shomari and I. However, Jeidal Astor, the Naboo ambassador, came wit a security detail that reached the maximum allowed: 9 men. I wasn't sure why so many bodyguards were allowed, but I couldn't argue. Jeidal was a humanoid alien, his only distinguishable features being his fanged teeth, blood red eyes, and eccentrically shaped head. Jeidal seemed to be focusing his energy into trying to make Nora explode with the mere thought of his wish, but was failing miserably, as she didn't even look ruffled in the slightest. The building was designed exactly as the blueprints had told me. A smooth, steel dome shaped building with enough room to hold no more than a few hundred people, simply because it was supposed to be a spacious, but private, room. However, I'd learned something from the blueprint that had made me worry more than I would have if I'd not seen the blueprints. The first anamoly was that the building was built out of thousands of 2 foot by 2 foot slats. Normally a smooth building such as this one would have used 4 pieces at the most, but instead it had a lot of decently sized pieces. I normally would have written this off as simple creativity, except there was a powerful motor below it. The motor was lying in the ruins of an old temple that used resemble the one Johan and I had gotten attacked in, and that the ambassador had hid in with Raena. The conclusion of the motors purpose that I had come to was disturbing, and caused me to continually look around and use the Force to tune my ears outside of the building. The motors, as I had deducted, were used to open hidden slats in the dome to let fresh air flow through the sealed building, so that it didn't get suffocating inside. This made me wonder what creatively twisted uses the motor could be used for. I had Raena guarding it however, and I was sure that she would keep it well protected until I could give her reinforcements if necessary. I heard someone clear their throats causing my mind to stop wandering and immediately snap back to attention. I looked at Shomari signaling at the disclaimer on the table that said both security details felt the building secure enough to hold the negotiations in.

"Hurry up and sign," Shomari told me.

I waved my hand over the datapad letting the Force complete my work for me. I went back to scanning Raena's mind and the area around the building. I faintly heard ambassadors Nora Tressle and Jeidal Astor begin to argue. In truth it was more of Jeidal loudly disagreeing with every reasonable proposal Nora offered. Then I felt a spark of surprise from Raena that peaked my interest. Then I felt her presence slip away momentarily as she usually did in preparation for battle.

"Shomari," I whispered in a harsh undertone.

"I know, go check it out," Shomari centered himself behind ambassador Tressle and gripped both of his light saber blades.

I slipped away into the shadows of the dimly lit room. It wasn't hard, even for someone who wasn't very skilled at hiding his presence, because the room had one light, and it was shining on the table with Jeidal still not trying to be very agreeable.


	7. A Failed Defense

-----------------

I slipped away into the shadows of the dimly lit room. It wasn't hard, even for someone who wasn't very skilled at hiding his presence, because the room had one light, and it was shining on the table with Jeidal still not trying to be very agreeable. I moved quickly until I reached the smooth steel wall, and followed it carefully until I reached my target: a hidden trap door that led to the hidden area where the engine was hidden. After slipping in quietly, I looked around carefully but saw nothing. Just the short, narrow, hallway that lead to where the engine was hidden at. I felt a flash of heat that didn't indicate danger to my life, but the danger of discovery. I leapt into the air, catching onto the handle on the bottom of the trapdoor I'd just came through. I was careful not to turn the handle, lest I open it and give my presence away. As I watched for what I'd sensed, I saw a group of the monsters Johan and I had battled when we were looking for the Temple Masters. There were about 7 of them, the exact same number that we had battled earlier, and about 4 small creatures. They had yellow skin, red eyes, and fanged teeth that matched the demon's green tinted incisors. Their heads were peanut shaped, and seemed too large for their body. I relaxed my mind letting the Force flow through it, and directed my thoughts at the yellow skinned creatures. I was hit with sensations of authority and defiance, and a feeling of a near victory. I recentered my thoughts back on myself, and realized with a shock that the yellow skinned creatures were the Temple Masters. I remembered the theory about the Kashill being heroes to the people of this part of Yavin IV. Apparently, the Temple Masters shared that opinion. _But what do they plan to do with the creatures? If they have them attack Nora that would only serve to prolong the battle; which might be what they want. _My thoughts stopped as they stopped in front of the huge engine and the Temple Masters began to convene amongst themselves. I wondered immediately where Raena was.

_"I'm fine don't worry,"_ Raena's thoughts entered my mind.

_"Where are you?"_ I responded mentally.

_"I'm in the engine room, there's a comfy little corner where I can watch the Temple Masters work." _Raena's smirk was almost visible in my mind.

_"How long have you been watching them?"_ I answered.

_"Since the negotiations beginning," _Raena informed me.

_"What's been going on?"_ I inquired.

_"I can't tell, they've just been walking around mostly, like patrol duty,"_ she thought back at me.

_"Then what was I sensing from you?"_ I responded.

_"Déshawn I've had my presence hidden from anyone, even you."_ Raena's surprise was conveyed clearly.

_"The Sith Lord must be here, and tricked me to come down here."_ I reasoned mentally.

_"But why?" _she asked.

_"To get Shomari alone!"_ I turned the handle to the trapdoor that I was hanging from to try and open it.

Several things happened in quick succession that served to establish a state of chaos that quickly escaped my control. First I realized that door handle was locked, this clued me in to the next few happenings. The next moment, I felt the building vibrate as the Temple Masters activated the engine. In my minds eye, I looked through Shomari and saw the slats, that made up the dome, begin to retract, revealing a wiry frame. Through this thin frame, several hundred militia soldiers dropped through, identifiable by the two-headed dragon emblem that Nora Tressle had describe earlier. I dropped to the ground quickly, my light saber's blue side quickly extending as the monsters that had been guarding the Temple Masters turned quickly and attacked me. I executed a smooth running aerial over the first one, keeping my presence of mind enough to cut through it as I vaulted over it. Landing I quickly flipped into the air, planting my feet onto the ceiling, and pushed off hard. My light saber was pointed out at the ground, and I drove the humming blade into the spine of a second creature. I felt a flash of heat on my neck, and ducked as one of the surprised monsters finally tried to break up my fatal timing. Raena slipped out of the shadows smoothly and smiled devilishly, as she always did in battle, decapitating the monster easily.

_"Don't leave me,"_ I quickly thought to Raena, who was making to fade away again.

She flipped into the circle of 5 monsters, her back to mine, and we quickly spun out towards seperate monsters. I stabbed my blade into the wide jaws of one, but it managed to bite down on my wrists with the glowing fanged teeth. I yelped in pain as the monster swallowed my light saber handle. I grasped the mechanism with the Force, and extending the blade again. It ignited, searing the monster's innards causing a roar of agony to emanate from it. I waved my hand violently and the blade made a 360 degree turn, then ripped out of the demon's ribcage from the side and punched through a second dog-like enemy. I made to catch the light saber, when I noticed the blood on the handle. I let it fall to the ground, still extended, as the last dog-demon jumped at me, but Raena slammed into it with a flying kick in the side. I waved my hand again, and the blade jumped to life, sliding across the floor before it hit the ground, the end result causing the demon to breathe it's last breath by landing on top of the blade. I raised my hand and it corkscrewed from under the corpse, and did a dry-spin to shake the blood off. I caught it, and wiped it on my robes, a visibly disgusted look on my face.

"That's disgusting," Raena spoke my mind for me.

"Tell me about it," I complained.

"You did it," she criticized.

"I didn't want it to eat my hand," I retracted my light saber and examined the bubbling, hissing blood in my wound. I noticed that it was deeper than normal. "Force, that is not good."

I suddenly felt weak, my knees buckled, and I felt to the ground on both knees. I felt burning in my forearm where I'd been bitten, and everything donned an odd white outline as my vision blurred. The last thing I could see were the Temple Masters standing over me smirking, and Raena backing up as 2 more groups of the 7 demon dogs approached her. Then my eyes got wide momentarily, as I felt several sharp pains from Shomari, who seemed to be getting battered brutally.

"No..." then my last breaths left me as I passed out.


	8. A White Hot Escape

--------------------------

The last thing I could see were the Temple Masters standing over me smirking, and Raena backing up as 2 more groups of the 7 demon dogs approached her. Then my eyes got wide momentarily, as I felt several sharp pains from Shomari, who seemed to be getting battered brutally.

"No..." then my last breaths left me as I passed out.

My eyes slowly fluttered open, my wrist painfully throbbing and I could feel a slight hissing where the wound was still sizzling. Looking around I saw there was a sinister looking control panel about 10 yards off, facing away from me. My arms were stuck in some kind of cool metal that didn't budge. I closed my eyes, relaxing and sending out probing waves of Force to get a better grip on my situation. I saw that Raena, Shomari, and I were hooked to seperate parts of a wall. The wall had some kind of powerful generator behind it, that heated the steel to a semi-liquid state, which is how we were put into the wall. I cringed thinking about the burns we must have on our hands now. My feet hung limply below my body, and I found that this gave a constant, unpleasant, tug on my arms. The sensation reminded me of a stretch taken too far. The door's across the containment center hissed open, and in swooped a shrouded figure.

"Well," he laughed bitterly. "Look how the mighty have fallen."

"I don't know about that," Shomari's arrogant voice floated from my right side. "From this angle, we're looking down on you."

"From my angle, I don't think there's a target temperature this wall hasn't heated up to," the Sith Lord fired back angrily.

"Give it a shot," Shomari sneered back. "I think 5,000 degrees Kelvin is a nice goal."

"This isn't some silly, childish game. A simple dare won't hoodwink me so easily." the shrouded man hissed.

"You're padawan's seemed to have that same mentality," I interjected.

His glowing red eyes turned towards me, and I could feel his immense power rising. I knew what I had said touched a sensitive spot. I remembered thinking how odd it was that a Sith Lord was showing such care for an apprentice, right before a tendril of dark Force wrapped around my midsection and yanked me away from the wall hard. I yelled as my back cracked several times and continued to bend as he pulled my torso away from the wall. I realized that he also had bound my feet to the wall also, and the result was a painful bending and stretching of my muscles. I pulled as hard as I could with my strength, not thinking as my instinct took over. After several excrutiating moments, filled with my anguished screams he finally released me. I slouched heavily against my bonds, panting heavily from the stress my body had gone through. Then he turned away from our trio solemnly and walked away in silence.

"Wow, you touched a nerve," Shomari commented.

"Where's the Ambassador?" Raena refocused the conversation.

"She's fine," Shomari assured her. "In a little prison cell."

"Alright, I need your help you two," I said suddenly taking control. "Help me bring this wall down."  
"Why?" Shomari shrugged. "Do you want to show up at the ambassador's cell squatting a sheet of steel?"

"Déshawn, just turn the heater on and remelt the metal." Raena pointed out simply.

"I really didn't want to do that. But alright," I answered.

I let a bubble of Force encircle the control panel in front of me and let my thoughts flow through it as I searched for the right switch. I found the one connected to the wires, and I prepared to activate it, when a flash of heat went through my hands and I hesitated.

"What are you waiting for?" Shomari urged. "Do you want me to do it?"

"No don't," I started to warn him.

Then I felt him push a wave of Force towards the shady switch and it flicked on. I suddenly felt bolts of electricity flow through my arms and transmit to the rest of my body. I let out a yell of agony as I was electrocuted intensely. It took me about a minute to gather my thoughts enough undo Shomari's mistake. Raena and I glared at him, panting heavily, smoke rising from all of our bodies.

"Proud of yourself?" I growled.

Shomari coughed painfully, "sorry," he muttered.

"Let me handle this," I heard a deep voice boom from behind the panel.

"Get to it Johan," I told him. Then I turned towards Shomari, "he put a shroud on it."

"I can tell," he sneered back.

"Sorry guys, you're going to have to bite the bullet," Johan interrupted. "There's no simple release."

"He's good," I whispered to myself.

"Just hurry up," Raena urged him. "He's coming back."

The plate of steel heated up and my skin began to burn painfully as the steel reached a liquid point. A few seconds later all of us dropped to the ground and ran away from the now white wall as it slid to the ground. My hands were tender but I still forcibly grabbed Johan and dragged him out of the room. The door's closed behind us and the molten metal flowed slowly towards the door.

"How'd you get out?" I raised a suspicious eyebrow at Johan.

"Not a Jedi," he smirked exposing the light saber I'd given him earlier. "So they didn't check me very well. Lazy security."

"Where you near the ambassador?" Raena asked quietly.

"They only have one holding area," Johan smirked again.

"Then you're leading this little escapade," Shomari held a hand out indicating Johan's role.

As we ran through the hallways, I thought how odd it was that the Sith Lord's power had remained completely vacant until I angered him. No Jedi, or Sith, that I had ever heard of, was able to hide and recall their power that completely or quickly, and it made me nervous how difficult sensing him would be. It also gave me a slight chill to think what other powers the mysterious figure embodied.


	9. Traitorous Revelations

--------------------

As we ran through the hallways, I thought how odd it was that the Sith Lord's power had remained completely vacant until I angered him. No Jedi, or Sith, that I had ever heard of, was able to hide and recall their power that completely or quickly, and it made me nervous how difficult sensing him would be. It also gave me a slight chill to think what other powers the mysterious figure embodied. As we finally turned the last corner, Johan ran to the cell where Ambassador Tressle was being held. Shomari and I slowed to a walk, and stopped behind Johan as he cut the bars with the orange light saber. Then I drew my light saber and held it next to Johan's neck calmly.

"You can give up the charade Johan," I told the Sith Lord. "While I understand your hate for Shomari, Raena and I, I can't understand why you would want to prolong the war."

"Déshawn what are you doing?" Raena's shocked voice exclaimed from behind me.

Johan turned around, and held his arms up defensively, his face showing clear shock. "Yeah, what she said!"  
"I'm not as convinced as the others about your story of why you were allowed to keep your light saber," I started to explain. "The power crystal of a light saber emanates a kind of wave of energy. That would have alerted any Sith Lord running around here, and he would have made sure it was taken away."

Shomari spoke up also, "which cell were you held in Johan? The only bars that have been cut here are Nora's."

"Look, guys this isn't the time to do this. Accuse me later, Raena herself said the Sith Lord was _coming_ while I was standing right there," Johan defended himself.

"Well, I assumed he was getting closer. But it's because I felt his power growing." Raena spoke slowly as she remembered the situation.

"Apprentice or Master Johan. Just tell me that," Shomari also drew his light saber.

"Neither!" Johan backed up, till he hit the bars of a closed cell.

"There were 12 people that knew where I had sent Nora's guard. 3 of them being Raena, Shomari and I. A 4th was Nora Tressle herself. Another 3 is Rogers, Paris and you. That leaves about 5 people that can't possibly have told, because they were killed. None of the first four I names would have said a thing. In fact, the only person that didn't seem to suffer from the decimation of Nora's security is you." I announced.

Johan's defensive compsure seemed to melt away as he took on a completely different persona. His look of fear and confusion morphed into a twisted and sinister smirk. But the biggest change was the power I felt from him. In a simple word, it was overwhelming. I very literally felt suffocated in his presence, as if the air had suddenly become a bed sheet, just by his power flowing through it so freely. _Force please let him be the master_ I silently prayed.

"Correct Déshawn," Johan's now red eyes turned on me. "Master."

Raena was finally convinced and drew her light saber also. But I looked back startled when I heard her ignite 2 light sabers. She had her normal pink light saber, then in her left hand she had a smaller pink light saber that had a slightly curved blade and was about a foot and a half long.

"Remember back on Tatooine?" She gave me a supremely confident wink.

"Your new weapon," I deduced quickly.

"Speaking of weapons," Johan's deep voice, suddenly boomed even louder and echoed through the steel hallway. "I thank you for giving me mine back." He held his hand out and his light saber flew into it.

"Well, this is awkward," Shomari commented lightly. "Here I was expecting him to electrocute us."

"Like my last apprentice did?" Johan commented. "I'm here to avenge them not follow them."

"Too bad," I spoke up taking a step forward. "Because I'm going to end your life on the same note I took your apprentice's life on."


	10. Confrontation Pt I

--------------------------

"Well, this is awkward," Shomari commented lightly. "Here I was expecting him to electrocute us."

"Like my last apprentice did?" Johan commented. "I'm here to avenge them not follow them."

"Too bad," I spoke up taking a step forward. "Because I'm going to end your life on the same note I took your apprentice's life on."

"Why you!" was the only roar that escaped Johan's throat before he spun into a vicious attack.

I raised my light saber in reflex and made to block the overhead strike, but the Sith Lord was angry, not out of control, and he let the blade in his hand rotate down towards my exposed middle. Shomari's blade intercepted his attack as he stepped in front of me. I flipped over the battling pair and landed behind Johan and gave a distractionary slice at his back. Raena took advantage of the battle and began to escort Nora out of the room. I sensed her moving quickly through where we'd came from up the ladder. Then I felt her presence fade away again, as Shomari and I fought off the angered Sith in front of us. He had an annoying, and dangerous, habit of feinting his initial attack before making his real swipe. It got to the point that I began to feint my block at his initial attack, but I nearly lost my head as he actually intended it. I felt Shomari's frustration grow at our continually being backed up by one man, and soon he began to attack with a viciousness that put Johan on his heels. Shomari swung a powerful low swing that was caught midway by Johan's own blade. I spun into the air as I sensed Shomari's next move coming; Deuce planted his left heel into the teeth of Johan lifting him into my path. As I rotated, I extended my light saber, Johan had the amazing presence of mind to stop my blade. I followed through with my own spin kick that redirected the grieving master's route, from a parabola back towards ground, towards the wall behind him. He slammed into it heavily, his breath forced from within his lungs, and he slid to the ground. I lifted my hand, palm facing his limp form, and tendrils of light Force sprung from my hand, lifting him from the ground, and I bent my elbow. Johan's body obeyed my overpowering command, and he was summoned towards my waiting blade. I smirked, his Force was gone, but something tingled at the base of my neck, and I remembered how completely he had hidden his power before. Then, I realized it was a trick, however, I wasn't quick enough. I began to lean to the right in a panic, when he was about 6 feet away, Johan's eyes snapped open viciously and he slapped away my light saber which was attempting to pierce his chest. This left my body completely open, and he took full advantage of it. His burning orange blade pierced my body, pushing completely through to the other side and I yelled in agony. This burning was far beyond what I had endured when we'd escaped his unique prison. I was fortunate in the fact that I had seen his ploy, even if late, and had tried to avoid it. This ended up with him shoving his blade into my left shoulder, just wide and above my all-important heart. Shomari landed in front of me, to the right of Johan, who'd begun to drag his blade down slowly. The situation was an odd twist of fortune and misfortune, combined into one chaotic, painful twist for me. It was simply the fact that I'd killed his previous two apprentices that Johan was completely focused on his slow torturing of my body. However, the same type of care that brought Shomari to my rescue, drove him to kick Johan yet again; but this made the orange light saber rip out the side of my body. As I layed on the ground bleeding profusely as my heart pumped blood, almost directly, out of my body, I wondered why my left arm was still attached, as it had been hanging limp by my side when the light saber swung past where it was. A flash of memory allowed me to recall some heavenly force lifting my arm out of the way, but it wasn't completely enough. I twisted my neck and looked at my gruesomely twisted body. The underside of my arm had been burned, and heavily skined, by the light saber as Johan slammed into the wall. I had fallen at a bad angle, and landed on my extended arm, which was now bent against the normal direction an elbow allowed. My eyes watered from the pure torture my left side had endured: a blood spouting wound right above my heart in my left shoulder, the underside of my arm having a lot of the skin burned and cut away, and a broken elbow. Shomari lifted me up gently by my right arm, and I found it amazing how the pain didn't spread all over my torso as with most people. It seemed to be isolated for the most part, which was oddly fortunate for me. I leaned against the wall, panting heavily, as I observed what I could through the blood drenched Jedi robes on my body.

"Go Déshawn, find Raena and the Ambassador," Shomari said urgently as Johan got up from his blow laughing evilly.

"Where are you headed young Déshawn?" His eyes gleamed venemously as he raised a hand towards me.

"Get out of here!" Shomari gave me a mental shove and I took off.

Bolts of Force lightning poured from Johan's hand towards my body. For the second time of the fight, Shomari saved me by intercepting the bolts with his light saber. I turned and ran as fast I could with my light saber in my right hand, and without moving my left arm. I leapt up the ladder with an enourmous boost of Force and found myself in the middle of a heated battle field. A shriek of surprise and horror brought my eyes towards Raena.

"Deshawn?" she put her hand out and waves of power rolled off of her in massive tides.

The hordes of Kashill assassins were tossed to the side, dropping their silenced blasters, vibro blades, and other quiet methods of killing other than their bare hands. "Force! What happened?"  
"Johan is one of the most cunning opponents I've ever faced," I explained shortly through gritted teeth. "Where's Nora?"

"I'm here," she put her hand gently on my right arm.  
"Good, let's move," I said.

"What about Shomari?" Raena's eyes were still wide with fear and shock at seeing me arrive in such a state.

I closed my eyes and reached out towards my brother, and found him to be in combat still, as I knew he was, "he's fine."

"Are you sure?" Nora sounded concerned.

"This is Deuce we're talking about," I said. "Light saber battle is what he does."

I felt a rise in Shomari's ferocity as he ignited his second light saber. We stood up together and Raena drew her pink light saber, I ignited the red side of my own weapon, all 3 pairs of our eyes focused on one obstacle: the masses of Kashill had regathered themselves and now rallied their numbers between our trio and the door we so desperately needed to get out of. I heard the hum of a swinging light saber, a sharp snap of light saber energy and then a high pitched, almost squeaky, hum to my right. I turned my head and look at Raena, who now held two light sabers. Her normal saber was now held in an inverted grip with it pointing towards the ground, and a small, curved dagger-like blade in her left hand. It was about 1 foot in length, a matching pink to her other blade, and was held in an inverted grip also. I smirked as I realized that it was the weapon she'd told me about back on Tatooine.

"Déshawn, stay here and protect the ambassador; I'll clear us a way out of here." Raena told me confidently, her trademark devilish grin playing around her lips.


	11. A New Apprentice

---------------------------

Her normal saber was now held in an inverted grip with it pointing towards the ground, and a small, curved dagger-like blade in her left hand. It was about 1 foot in length, a matching pink to her other blade, and was held in an inverted grip also. I smirked as I realized that it was the weapon she'd told me about back on Tatooine.

"Déshawn, stay here and protect the ambassador; I'll clear us a way out of here." Raena told me confidently, her trademark devilish grin playing around her lips.

I nodded, as they all began to rush in on the three of us. "Ambassador," I said as I twirled my light saber to get a 1 handed feel for it before I began. "I must ask you not to pull out your weapon unless I'm in no condition to fight."

"Like now?" Nora eyed my left arm.

"Or unless I tell you," I finished.

Then Raena broke into action and I very nearly dropped my jaw seeing this new mode of battle she'd somehow developed. Her movement were quick, decisive, and had a new ferocity that made me shiver to think how I would combat that. She used the light dagger to hook the first electrospear away from her middle, then her light saber followed up by going through the attacker's throat. She pushed it further, catching the man behind her off guard and impaling the shorter Kashill in the head. She ducked, deactivated the light saber, and sliced the next attacker's arm with the light dagger. Her light saber snapped back out after she'd freed it of the two victims and blocked several bullets from the blaster. I felt a flash of heat behind me as they seem to decide I'd be an easier target. I lifted my blade behind my head deflecting the bullet back along it's original course and I too leapt into work. I quickly learned to compensate for my arm by sidestepping back and forth rather than switch hands to get the attack angle I wanted. I ducked and spun away from an enemy letting him pass by me. I spun back the opposite direction cutting the Kashill behind me, and the one in front of me, in one smooth motion. Then I deftly leapt away from an overhead swing of an electrospear and redirected another blaster bullet into the Kashill that had swund the electrospear at me. I finished him by cutting his body in half and letting a wave of Force push him and several of his partners backwards. I turned from that group and quickly returned to the ambassador's side.

"There's too many Déshawn," I heard Raena's voice behind me.

"What happened to my path?" I said. "Don't worry about us, it's under control."

Raena glanced at my shoulder and cringed before she took off to fulfill her promise. I heard several screams of pain as I circled the ambassador killing anyone that got too close for comfort. Suddenly, a wave of pain overcame me, and I dropped to one knee holding back vomit. I realized that it was coming from Shomari, and I wondered what was happening for him to feel this tortured, as I was getting a toned down feel for what he was going through. I heard a scream and I leaped back to my feet, fighting off the horrible feeling of dread for Shomari, and decapitated the group of Kashill I'd let pass me. I felt a wave from the Force push me towards where Raena had left and I grabbed the ambassadors hand. I pulled her through the row of dead Kashill both of us sprinting. The Kashill continued to close relentlessly, and I began to compare the size of the group to the Federation army. It almost seemed that the townspeople didn't just support the Kashill; they _were_ the Kashill. I pushed the ambassador with a boost of Force and I stopped ignoring her shouts for me to come on. I extended the other side of my light saber and spun it on my one hand.

"Don't worry about me," I said.

"You don't have to do this!" Nora shouted at me.

"Shomari's in pain. He needs my help," I explained simply.

Raena took over, grabbing the ambassador assuring her I'd be fine, and they left. I began to cut through Kashill relentlessly as I let out my frustrations without any of the restraint I had to show during training. The building began to vibrate, but I was to focused to slow down, I simply took note of it as I fought my way back to Shomari's side. The slats on the building were closing, blocking out light, and any more Kashill from entereing. As soon as the last slat closed I flipped under the light that the debate had taken place under, and shoved my blade into it. This left the dying sparks as the only light left in the room as I deactivated my light saber. If one could put a listening device in the room, without it getting destroyed, the next few things they would hear would simply be yelps of surprise, pain, and the heavy breathing of fear and a single wrathful being. The Kashill continued to attack where I'd last been at, but I had long since left. And now the Force was my only weapon. I let it rush through my body like a rollercoaster, and it gave me the power to do whatever I wished with a single wave of my hand. I was sure I'd reached a level of sensitivity to the Force beyond what anyone has been, as I could literally see everything in the room through the Force. I saw the Force in the Kashill, it was a faint light, sort of outlining their shapes, like a heat signature. I saw there each one had stepped, as they left a small imprint of themselves as a residue of the Force. I could quickly recognize and distinguish each unique signature. Finally, everything stopped, and I thought the remaning Kashill had been defeated. But I looked around and quickly saw that I was wrong.

"Everyone out of the room!" I heard a powerful voice command.

I looked towards this newcomer, and I saw him with the same Force outline as everyone else, but at his core I saw a ball of power and I knew that this must be Johan's new apprentice. The Kashill quickly left the room, and he wasted no time engaging me. Several bolts of lightning flew from his hand before the Kashill had completely left, and I was hit dead on. I felt the electricity coursing through my body much like I had felt the Force flowing through me earlier. I realized, through the agony, that he was making the electricity track my power as a sort of sick way of punishing my strengths. He threw me against the wall and I hit it at ferocious velocities and slid to the ground, my head bouncing off of the steel floor violently as I felt darkness creep up on the edges of my vision. Blood dripped from the side of my head and corner of my mouth. I pushed myself up shakily, on both arms, and squared my shoulders with him. I didn't have the strength to fight back as he lifted me into the air again. Then, more streaks of lightning coursed into my body and my body jolted in response. But this time I had a plan in my head as I knew how his attacks worked. I pushed a wave of Force back at my opponent and the lightning followed obediently. His eyes grew in shock as he was pushed away and began to electrocute himself. It took him several moments before he could refocus enough to stop before he killed himself. A smirk curled onto my face as I held back a laugh at the sight. He threw more lightning at me, and I let off several tendrils of Force that made the lightning head for it instead, like a false heat signature fooling a heat seeking missile. I whipped the tendrils of Force to grab him and his own lightning once again followed and he was thrown across the room while he electrocuted himself again. He got up shakily and looked at me with pure hatred. I held his stare with one of peace, I had reached a point where the pain no longer bothered me, and I simply accepted it as a consequence of my own mistakes. As a result I used the pain to remain focused to avoid having to endure anymore. Then something happened that put me in a new situation which I had never before been in or heard of in my life. The trap door behind me was slammed open as Shomari came flying through it, and I saw his mangled form slam into the ground. I reacted quickly flipping in front of him protectively fighting off Johan's vicious attempts to try and finish him off. He struck trying to distract me in every way possible so that he could get even a second to the kill Shomari, but I kept my feet planted and stood firm. His apprentice joined him and I stepped the battle up in intensity and speed. I fought hard, fast, and decisively with both arms, ignoring the pain and keeping my mind on what I was fighting for. I spun both sides of the blade, defending my little brother in whatever way I could.


	12. Confrontation Pt II

-------------------

His apprentice joined him and I stepped the battle up in intensity and speed. I fought hard, fast, and decisively with both arms, ignoring the pain and keeping my mind on what I was fighting for. I spun both sides of the blade, defending my little brother in whatever way I could. Johan and his apprentice both struck at the same time and I blocked both blades at the same time, grateful my own weapon had two blades on it.

_"Shomari wake up!" _I spoke into his mind urgently as I pushed. _"I need your help!"_

_"Huh?"_ Shomari's mind was alive, so I could speak to it, but he had no conscious thoughts.

_"Come on!"_ my thoughts were urgent.

I pushed as hard as I could throwing the two backwards with the help of the Force, and I looked at the two Sith trying to think of when it's ever been documented seeing both fight alongside each other. Usually the Sith sent their apprentice to do their work for them, but here I stood, about to have to face both of them along side my brother who was slowly waking up by my mental urgings. The battle restarted with a ferocity I never knew I was capable of maintaining for any period of time. Johan leapt at me first, I slammed a wave of Force into his stomach and spun past his apprentice's initial blow.

"Terry watch out!" I heard Johan warn his padawan.

Terry was lifted into the air then his body soared over my head and slammed into a wall. I watched the Sith stagger to his feet, and reignite his light saber ready to exact his revenge. I felt the fourth power in the room grow and Deuce ignited his own light sabers in response. I looked at his injuries and felt that he was doing, if possible, worse than I. His head was tilted towards the left slightly, which seemed to point out the blood that caked the right side of his face. It was to the point that he had his right eye closed tightly, so that the blood didn't roll down his face into it. I gripped the middle of my light saber's handle tightly, and grit my teeth against the pain that ensued from my punctured shoulder. Terry leapt in an attempt to pass by me and get to Shomari, who stood stock still, while the Sith hurtled towards him, light saber leading the charge. When Terry was several inches away from him, he knocked the light saber away from his pupils with his own light saber. The second one rose to puncture Terry's exposed stomach, and barely missed when Terry spun away on pure reflex. I moved in towards Johan in an extremely controlled manner, making sure not to be caught by his constant, and dangerous, feints. I blocked the overhead shot, and let the bottom of my own double saber rise up to split Johan from the pelvis to his head. He backflipped in place, deftly dodging the strike. I was unvexed, and continued my movements, trying to pick apart his seemingly impenetrable defenses. I sidestepped to the left about half a foot so that I held my light saber in my right hand on my right side. I twisted my wrist causing the light saber to spin ever more persistently, making Johan flip again, and again, until he reached a corner and I switched movement patterns in a split second, to throw him off of his guard. I flipped forwards, switching the direction of my light saber's rotation. My timing was beautiful; just as Johan began his backflip, my light saber suddenly decided to spin against his backflipping dodge. The sith lord's feet planted against the two walls that met to form the corner, and pushed off, thinking he had avoided my blow again. But his own attack was cut short, very literally, when my light saber sunk into his left arm. Johan's light saber clattered to the ground, still clutched in his, now, useless limb, and deactivated. Terry's screams of anguish and rage filled the steel dome, and echoed around the darkened room. I didn't even take a second to register the groans of pain from Johan, or the face that a simple picking up of a light saber could have asserted my victory in a sufficiently effective manner; no, I couldn't allow him to live. Johan, like Popsomuo, was too dangerous for me to allow to continue walking. There wasn't a prison that I could think of that would hold him forever, so my judgement was to make Johan one with the Force. A quick rotation, and small in-place leap, later, Johan's head was rolling across the floor, with blood spouting from both pieces of his corpse. I turned slowly, shaking slightly as I realized what I had done, and faced the anguished Terry. The apprentice suddenly took off towards me, light saber extended, and his face contorted with rage. I sensed Shomari about to strike Terry, and pushed Shomari a few feet backwards with a wave of my hand.

"Let him come," my voice was uncharacteristically challenging. "An apprentice without a master is a bat without ears."

Terry swung a wide swipe at my head and i bent my knees slightly, and declined my head causing the blow to miss easily. I rose back up at my reckless, and weaker, opponent with a left handed uppercut; saving the light saber in my right hand for another time. He fell backwards shocked I had just takin my hand off of my light saber to punch him, rather than end his life.

"You won't get off that easily," I explained simply.

I knew he wanted to die, so as not to have to deal with the strife of his situation, but I was going to force a real fight out of him. Cracking my neck, with 2 quick twists, I watched him rise to his feet again. I spun into an attack as soon as he got to his feet. I sliced low, then high, then high again, then towards his mid section. Terry was quick: he hopped, ducked, deflected, and blocked all of my attacks. It seemed that he took my uppercut as a personal insult, and was more fueled to victory, than by my slaughter of his master. But he was no match for me still, no matter how driven he was, it took a few powerful strikes and convincing feints for me to have the apprentice on his back again, the red side of my light saber pointed at his throat. I retracted the blue side of my light saber, and waved my free hand at Terry. His body was flung helplessly into a nearby wall. As he bounced off of it, I took the opportunity to flip right below him, and drive my glowing blade into his back and out of his chest; quickly sidestepping the weight of his body and letting him crash into the ground dead. I deactivated my light saber completely, panting heavily as I took in my brutal vicotry, my injuries, and as fatigue caught up with my body. I dropped to the ground, unable to stand any longer as the Force stopped supporting my adrenaline flow, and darkness crowded my vision. I saw the form of a beautiful woman approaching me, then I lost conciousness completely.


	13. In order congradulations are,

-----------------------

I deactivated my light saber completely, panting heavily as I took in my brutal vicotry, my injuries, and as fatigue caught up with my body. I dropped to the ground, unable to stand any longer as the Force stopped supporting my adrenaline flow, and darkness crowded my vision. I saw the form of a beautiful woman approaching me, then I lost conciousness completely.

_The ground rumbled with the intensity of the marching armies trampling the grounds outside. Shomari and I were standing in the middle of the living room of our home, as the other buildings outside burned. I had sensed several brief moments of danger, but my mother was no fool. She had made sure to stay nearby to ensure our safety. Shomari looked at me, as I stared with an intense gaze outside, my mind feebly attempting to comprehend what was going on outside. I felt more flashes of danger, but the flashes of heat were outside the house; I was sensing danger for my mother. It increased in intensity and frequency at an incomprehensible rate. Finally, my mother's presence weakened slightly, but I continued to feel the enemy lose soldiers. Against my mothers wishes I took a peek outside. Her right shoulder leaked blood, and I saw the burnt flesh indicating a blaster impact. I yelped in shock, fear, and the pain I suddenly sensed as my mother hadn't thought to shield herself against my ever probing mind. The result drew all the soldiers attention on me._

I sat straight up suddenly, as I began to comprehend my vision of rememberance. It seems that Johan lied to me as I figured when I figured out he was a Sith Lord. My mother had never left our side, and therefore couldn't possibly have saved his life. I bowed my head as I realized it was her own lack of forethought that had gotten her killed. It seems that once the invaders realized a Jedi was on the surface, they began to focus their assaults on her and she was eventually overwhelmed. I focused my mind and tried to focus my thoughts. The Force flowed through my mind freely as I attempted to remember what happened next; but the door chose that moment to open, and I saw Raena walking in. I realized where I was at, and layed back down gently. The medical bed in the Jedi Temple was comforting, as I finally felt that almost all of my many concerns were put to ease, save one.

"What happened?" I asked, looking over the bandages that decorated my left shoulder, and underside of my left arm.

"Well, your dislocated elbow has been snapped back into place," Raena cringed. "Shomari used the Force to push it back after you passed out."

"You got to me first didn't you?" I asked remembering the last image I had seen.

"No, Shomari did. He was in the room with you, how would I have beaten him to you?" Raena's voiced was tinted with worry.

I decided that I had imagined my mother as I passed out, which must have been the focal point that kept me alive.

"Well then what?" I continued.

"The rest is pretty obvious, got on the star ship, Nora thanked us, paid us, and we now have a meeting with the Council whenever you 'feel up to it'" Raena quoted.

"Let's go now, I need to speak with Trance and Deuce afterwards. Trance owes me some datapads, and Shomari owes me some backup." I slid down from the bed in an efficient manner.

"You really should rest," Raena protested as I sidestepped her.

"I know," I answered honestly as I strode down the hallway towards the Council chambers.

"As long as you care," I heard her mutter slightly.

We entered the room in a slightly louder manner than I'd hoped, but it held no consequences so I ignored it.

"You wished to see me?" I asked after the Council's attention had completely centered on Raena and I.

"Not this soon," Master Windu scolded. Then his eyes turned to Raena, "why aren't the pair of you resting?"

"I tried to tell him Master," Raena spoke up.

"I have 1 more matter to tend to before I can allow myself the pleasure of rest." I defended Raena.

"Very well," Master Windu sat back.

"In order once again, congradulations are," Yoda spoke up. "Indebted the Naboo are to you all."

"I only regret not seeing through Johan soon enough to save her task force." I hung my head in guilt and remembrance of my brief time with them.

"Fooled everyone was. Saw through his plots you did, proud of you I am." Yoda assured me.

"Me too," Raena whispered from my side.

"I am now ordering you, Raena, and Shomari to take a minimum of a month of leave." Mace Windu said. "I will not allow you three to be summoned for any kind of mission from the council. You may spend the time, in what ever stress relieving manner you deem appropriate."

"Thank you Master." Raena and I intoned.

Trance was rummaging through his drawers quickly, in a frantic manner.

"I know it was here," he said in a frustrated and lost voice. "It was just so long ago, I found it the same day you three left, and stashed it immediately."

"Glad you were challenged sufficiently," I complimented him sarcastically.

"This is the hard part you're seeing now," Trance said. "I couldn't contact you while you were on your assignment, so I just tried to keep it."

"Trance," Raena's voice had the soft touch that indicated a gentle suggestion. "Would it be on the datapad on your pocket?"

"Yes!" he shouted triumphantly raising the datapad. "Thank you! No wonder Déshawn likes you so much."

"So what do we have?" Shomari asked understandably irritated. I was also glad for a little emphasis on focus; and the subject change too.

"I got lucky, your only suspect is a businessman, who ironically deals in macro-scale weapons, from a scrawny little planet called Earth." He paused letting the fact our mothers killer came from the same planet as us sink in.

"And he now resides..?" I pushed sitting up, in spite of my exhaustion.

"On Coruscant." Trance concluded. "He shouldn't be hard to find, just infiltrate underground arms dealing and you'll get sick of hearing his name."

"His name being?" Shomari also pressed.

"Husb Reggoe," Trance announced quickly.

"Quite a name," Raena's soft voice piped up.

"This won't take us over 3 days," I said as Shomari and I simultaneously rose. I pulled on my black cloak, summoned my light saber to my hand and stopped at the door to wait for my little brother.

"I don't want to hear, sense, see, or smell a trace of you two. Stay here and enjoy your vacation as much as we plan to be," Shomari ordered.

"I'm still on call," Trance announced. "But Raena you should have some fun."

"Déshawn..." Raena started.

"This is our mother's killer, Raena," I stopped her.

"Good luck," she finished up, altering her line of conversation.

"A Jedi is neither lucky nor unlucky," I quoted her.

"Besides, looking at our track record," Trance pointed out. "Wishing luck around here is more of a curse than a blessing."


	14. Finding Husb Reggoe

--------------------

"Déshawn..." Raena started.

"This is our mother's killer, Raena," I stopped her.

"Good luck," she finished up, altering her line of conversation.

"A Jedi is neither lucky nor unlucky," I quoted her.

"Besides, looking at our track record," Trance pointed out. "Wishing luck around here is more of a curse than a blessing."

Shomari and I arrived on the bustling planet in as inconspicuous a manner as possible. We had agreed that if we were to join the criminals of Coruscant, we should arrive in a quiet fashion as most of them have. Black cloaks covered our forms, the hoods of which hung around our faces, lengthening the natural shadows of the degraded section of the prospering planet.

"Want a drink?" I nodded towards the bar we'd gotten off of the transport in front of, with a devious smile that he couldn't see.

"I'd really rather start looking," Shomari said with annoyed tone.

"Let's have a drink," I insisted.

Walking into the bar, the standard "bar scene" music playing from the present band of several alien race. I felt a quick wave of understanding from Shomari's mind, as he realized that if we wanted to find any shady characters, this was the most likely place. I purposely pushed my way roughly through the crowd, earning several complaints from the bar's occupants, until a large blue alien, who'd seen my rude approach, decided to block my path. I was powerless to move him, lest I reveal myself as a Jedi. The only Jedi that would usually be found in this place were Sith that frequented such places to visit informants, in some cases for the last time. I tilted my head up so I could look into his face, and cocked my head to the side in a dangerously curious manner.

"Out of my way," I spoke in a menacing, but matter-of-fact voice.

Some unknown language came from him, his fist of claws shaking in my face, and his tone loud, gathering an unneccessary crowd of watchers.

"He said, he doesn't know who you are, but you'd better watch your manners," a bystander translated.

"Tell him, I don't want any problems. But his Hutt-like body is blocking my path to the bar, so I can't get a drink." I told the bystander, keeping my eyes on the aggressive alien, who happened to be the key to my plan.

A few exchanges of alien words later, the blue alien practically yelled his message to the messenger, and the translator shook his head pityingly at me.

"He said take it back, or he will twist your head off in a manner that will make a Wookie cringe." I heard a seemingly universal intake of breath accompany the announcement. "Personally I suggest you listen."

"Even Jabba can't deny the truth. Or take up more room than him for that matter," I jerked my head indicatively at him signaling to deliver my message.

The translator was the only one who spoke this time, but my jaw suddenly felt a flash of heat and I quickly moved it to the right. My newly found opponent's right uppercut was suddenly caught in the ceiling. I looked over him broodingly, as he desperately attempted to dislodge his claws. I snapped a hook into his now exposed side, causing him to to stumble slightly, and yanked his arm out of the ceilings handicapping grasp. I followed up with a spinning backkick that knocked him back even more steps. Then another spin provided the power for my finishing backfist, that whipped him to the side.

"Well, now he's out of my way," I announced, stepping over his large foot and approached the shocked bartender.

I felt a flash of heat on the back of my head, that led to my right cheek. I had to force myself not to avoid it, lest my precognition be discovered, and continued my walk to the bar. A split second later, I understood the warning fully. I was seized bodily, by the back of my head and the alien easily slammed my head on the bar counter. He twisted my neck and pressed the side of my head into the structure and my cheek broke a stray glass, made worse by the alcohol in the drink that leaked into my new cut. I gritted my teeth against the pain and swung a blind elbow behind me on the side of the assault. But he was smart, and a lot more flexible than I'd originally believed. It seemed he'd grabbed me from the opposite side of my body so that it created the illusion of where his body really was. He grabbed my protruding attack and pulled backwards on it twisting my body against the force of the way my feet were rooted. This however applied enough pressure for me to simply lift my legs up. The force of him pushing on my body, caused my feet to swing in a dangerous arc and slam into his face kicking him about 7 feet across the ground. I rolled my neck around my shoulders causing several audible cracks. The alien stood up shakily and I took off with a quick bending of my knees and launched a side kick into his stomach which lifted him bodily from the ground and caused his landing to snatch away his hazy conciousness. I rolled my shoulders in a nonchanlant manner, suggestive of the ease of the fight for me. Spotting Shomari watching from the bar, I turned and joined him, acting as if I didn't know him. Pressing a button on the menu installed directly into the counter, I ordered my drink, catching it as it slid across the counter top into my hand. A slightly hair, green, 4 arm 2 legged creature was manning the bar. I looked him over appraisingly and sighed audibly.

"Problem?" the bartender asked turning away from the glass he was cleaning to look at me.

"Oh," I sounded slightly surprised. "You missed that?"

"Didn't look like that much of a problem from my point of view. Heh, unless you're large and blue." he chuckled.

"Neither of which describe me," I agree. Then I turned so he could see my sliced cheek, which still had alcohol bubbling in it. "However, this is a bit of a problem."

"Well it's not exactly a bacta patch but alcohol still kills infections," he laughed again. "Even if it is a little primitive."

"I was referring to how quickly I could deal with anyone like that," I started indicatively. "Before my weapons were stolen when I arrived here."

"You had weapons, and were robbed of them?" he sounded skeptical.

"And I wouldn't have been if I'd known they were there, before they finished making off with my blasters and vibroblades." I responded quickly.

"Well, I know this fellow," he lowered his voice and I knew what was coming. "Name's Reggoe."

"I guess if I was interested in a hook up that'd be good for me," I took another sip of my drink.

"Would ya let me finish?" He pressed unperturbed. "Anyways he's got his hands deep into selling weapons that are frowned upon by the Federation. I'm sure he could restock you for a good price."

"A good price being?" I asked.

"Up to you two," he said.

"So...should I just click my heels 3 times and pray for him to appear?" I pressed.

"Come back here tomorrow, same time, I'll have him here." he told me with another chuckle.

"I'll see you then," I stood up after polishing off my drink. I dropped payment on the counter, "keep the change."


	15. A Final Clue?

-----------------

"A good price being?" I asked.

"Up to you two," he said.

"So...should I just click my heels 3 times and pray for him to appear?" I pressed.

"Come back here tomorrow, same time, I'll have him here." he told me with another chuckle.

"I'll see you then," I stood up after polishing off my drink. I dropped payment on the counter, "keep the change."

The next day Shomari and I arrived at the bar about 30 minutes early so we could have an edge on our situation before Husb Reggoe arrived. However, I immediately felt very glad we'd chosen this mindset. As we walked in, as inconspicuously as possible, we saw a man, whom we believed to be Husb, talking to the bartender. I cocked my head curiously, and read their hand gestures for a several moments before I realized that the bartender was relating the events of the previous day to him.

"Well, they don't seem to be plotting," Shomari said picking up on my interest in their conversation. "I'd be more worried if they **didn't** talk about what you did yesterday."

"Let's just go over, no need for us to scheme either." I jerked my head in their direction as I walked over.

"How's it goin barkeep?" I announced my presence cordially as Shomari and I took a seat at the counter.

"Why so early?" he raised an eyebrow, cutting off his conversation with Husb to try and screen us first.

"Just wanted a drink like the one you made me yesterday," I said in a friendly tone. Then I realized my mistake, "this is my younger brother."

"Would you like a drink?" He questioned Shomari, skipping name introductions because of the nature of our business.

"I'd rather a soup of some kind." He declined.

"No alcohol, not in here," the bartender responded. "This, gentlemen, is Husb Reggoe, the man you two were looking for."

"I don't like the way you phrased that." Husb's voice wasn't very well projected, and I found myself struggling slightly to hear him. His face was shrouded in a similar manner as mine had been earlier until I'd approached them.

"Well how would you like it phrased?" I questioned his own suspicions.

"Not sure," he answered honestly.

"You know, to be this well-known weapon's dealer, you don't seem to have the personality to use one yourself," Shomari told him.

"Well, people have a way of presenting themselves in a deceiving manner," he mumbled and I enhanced my ears with the Force so I could hear him clearly.

"I'll toast to that," I lifted my cup momentarily before downing the burning liquid.

"May we speak outside?" Shomari interrupted, I felt his urge to finger his light saber. "What we look for, shouldn't be widely known."

"Sounds expensive," a look of greed engulfed Husb's face.

"Let's just go," I said.

As we walked outside, I could feel the barkeep watching us head towards the door. I wondered if he had any idea what horrors Shomari and I planned for Husb. We'd been disturbingly well controlled in the presence of the man that killed our mother. And now, it was time for me to let my pain, loneliness, frustration, and fury out on him.

"So, I heard you're from Earth," I started casually. I knew I'd made a mistake because he seemed to clam up.

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Born and raised."

"Really?" Shomari's voice was peaked with interest. "Both of us were born on there."

"You two are brothers?" he didn't sound surprised, more of a confirming voice.

"You could already tell," I answered. "About when did you leave?"

Husb seemed to double his pace as if he knew what we were going to "find out" and I was sure he knew who we were, what infuriated me was that he had the nerve to even look us in the eyes after what he did.

"Few years ago," he mumbled.

"About 10 or so?" I prompted.

"How'd you know?" Husb stopped suddenly, showing his suspicions.

"I was just guessing," I grinned. "That was about when we left Earth, we were just a lot younger."

"Oh," He sounded relieved and continued moving.

"What'd you do there?" Shomari asked.

"This," Husb said as he opened the cargo area of his transport.

My jaw very literally almost dropped when I saw the assortment of weaponry he had on his ship. From the pile of guns, electrospears, vibroblades, and assortment of other killing devices, one might assume there's would be only room for the the pilot in the cockpit. The organization to it was simple, but chaotic. It seemed in fact, designed to keep only the organizer from knowing where anything would be, in case someone were to try and steal some specific item I guessed.

"If only I had my most magnificent weapon still," he reminisced. "I kept it for myself for so long, but I daresay you boys might have more use out of it. It is of the nature you suggested in the bar."

"What weapon would this be?" I asked pulling back my hood.

"I don't quite remember what it was called, actually," his mood changed from nostalgia to fear and denial almost instantaneously.

Shomari threw back his hood and drew his light saber, putting the tip to Husb's throat, "What…was the name of the weapon?"

"Wh-what is this?" Husb laughed nervously. "You're Jedi?"

"I would answer his question with something better than a question if I were you Husb," I said pacing behind Shomari who's arm was astonishingly steady. "See, back on Earth you did something that affected him deeply and he most likely is going to kill you."

"What? What'd I do?" Husb began to scramble away, but quickly backed into his own ship and Shomari was upon him again.

"You killed our mother," Shomari explained in the most dangerous voice I'd ever heard in my life. In fact it gave me chills to hear, and I was sure it wasn't very comforting to Husb who couldn't fight such a force if he needed.

"No! I never use my own weapons! I swear to you, I sold the Harvester that was used to attack Earth." Husb explained in a panicked voice.

"Who?" I roared at him. "Who'd you sell it to?"

"H-his name is Taelin Cunae!" Husb Reggoe's eyes looked to be at the edge of exploding out of pure fear from the sight he was facing. To be honest.

"Good answer," I told him calmly.

"Let's go Shomari," I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away from the cowarding arms dealer. "I've been telling you to kill him for years."

"So?" I asked him sitting in the pilots seat.

"I don't know," he sighed frustratedly. "For some reason he seems to have vaporized, I can't find him."

"Come on Shomari, don't give me that." I returned angrily. "You worked with the scum for two years, and you can't even sense him?"

"Don't act like I'm not trying, as a way to protect him." Shomari answered standing up and walking towards the back of the ship.

"Protect him? You think I know you that little?" I returned. "Who have you ever tried to protect?"

"Well it seems you finally broke down and started believing my own press clippings." Shomari snapped back. "So why don't you jump out of the ship and call it a suicide attempt?"

"Why? So I can catch myself?" I answered.

The small references in our argument were towards happenings a few months back, before the whole ordeal with the Harvester. The way it happened, Shomari had, for some reason I still hadn't managed to drill out of him, or bothered to try, thrown a Twi'lek out of a ship. I had luckily been passing under, and used the Force to rescue the alien.

"So you can see if anyone cares more about you than they do me," Shomari explained. "Hate to tell you, but even the saint you are, nobody but Raena and I care about you."

"And your murders to try and create an aura of fear around your name has earned you nothing but the sneers of the universe!" I yelled at him. Then my bitterness at his method's decided to come out. "Not to mention how many leads on our mother's murderer you've lost because you have no control over yourself!"

Shomari slumped back down in his seat, "I don't see you getting a lot more answers than me."

"I beg to differ." I returned quickly. "Notice I didn't shove a light saber through Trance's throat, and he got me some answers."

"Well, I'm not shoving a light saber through anyones throat now, so where's Taelin?" he challenged me.

"The answer is somewhere in there," I triumphed again by showing him the Federation's fleet ahead of us. The biggest ship, the trade federation's headquarters, blocked off by a fleet of TIE fighters.

"How in the Force's name do you plan on getting through there?" Shomari questioned.

"Well, I don't see a big difference between you and the Sith we killed on Tatooine, so I guess you might have a good reason to visit Lance," I explained bitterly. Then I tossed him my light saber, "what with you being the only Sith in the history of existence to bring in a Jedi alive, and disarmed."

Yes, this is the end of this book. If you can't tell, I'm thinking about bringing this series to a close, not sure if I want to yet though. If I do, there will be a sequel coming out based on this storyline. This is a big point of doubts/ands/buts for me though, so hang tight. Jedi Crossing 4 is a DEFINITE however.


End file.
